The present invention generally relates to lottery ticket transactions and particularly relates to lottery ticket transactions conducted in a fueling forecourt.
Many states authorize various games or lotteries in which lottery participants purchase one or more tickets in hopes of buying a xe2x80x9cwinningxe2x80x9d ticket. With broad participation, the prize awards associated with such winning tickets are oftentimes in the millions or tens of millions of dollars. The chance, however small, to win all or a portion of such large awards compels even greater participation, sometimes sparking a frenzy of ticket purchases.
Because of their popularity, stores, particularly convenience stores, have strong incentive to make lottery tickets available at their premises. Indeed, store owners often receive a portion of sales proceeds on lottery tickets sold through their store and can enjoy increased customer traffic associated with general interest in the lottery. Conventionally, an in-store customer wishing to purchase a lottery ticket conducts the transaction through the same checkout clerk or attendant responsible for conducting general merchandise transactions. The amount of time required to purchase a lottery ticket varies with the nature of the ticket and the particular in-store lottery ticket dispensing system, but it can be significant with respect to other customers waiting in line. When a number of customers wish to purchase lottery tickets, the quality of service, as measured in terms of checkout waiting time, can degrade for all customers in the store. During times of particularly high lottery interest, a store""s quality of service can degrade dramatically. Obviously, such reduction in quality of service is counterproductive to the interests of both storeowners and customers.
Accordingly, there remains a need for an alternate or supplemental means of purchasing lottery tickets that avoids in-store customer delays and yet allows a storeowner to benefit from the added customer draw associated with selling lottery tickets. As described in detail herein, the system of the present invention addresses these and other needs providing concomitant benefit for both the storeowner and customers.
The present invention includes both methods and apparatus for combining lottery ticket sales with fuel purchasing transactions conducted by a customer at an individual fuel dispenser. The system of the present invention offers a customer the option of purchasing one or more lottery tickets in conjunction with their fueling purchase. Various types of lottery tickets are available for purchase and include pre-printed, random-number, and customer-number ticket types. Each fuel dispenser in the system of the present invention includes a payment acceptor. In the preferred embodiment, the fuel dispenser payment acceptor includes a card reader for accepting credit and debit card payment, a cash acceptor for accepting cash payment, and a wireless communication interface for accepting payment via a wireless signal containing payment information transmitted by a wireless communication device. Alternate embodiments of the fuel dispenser may selectively omit the cash acceptor, the card reader, and the wireless communication interface at the expense of reduced customer convenience. The purchased lottery tickets are dispensed in a number of ways. In the preferred embodiment, each fuel dispenser includes an integral lottery ticket dispenser having its own lottery ticket printer. The ticket printer includes adaptations that allow it to dispense pre-printed tickets as well as tickets printed at the time of sale. In an alternate embodiment, the receipt printer included in the fuel dispenser may be adapted to additionally provide lottery ticket printing and dispensing capabilities. In still other embodiments, lottery tickets are purchased through the fuel dispenser but actually dispensed from a lottery ticket dispenser apart from the fuel dispenser. In this embodiment, the lottery ticket dispenser may be associated with more than one fuel dispenser, such as a group of fuel dispensers at a fueling island, or even groups of fueling islands.